Instead of banning castells, Franco opted to folklorize them, presenting them as ‘regional peculiarities’ that were part of a ‘common homeland,’ like the San Fermín festival in Pamplona and the Fallas of Valencia. However, castell activity was conditioned by the repression of the victors. Some castellers died during the Civil War, others were later murdered or imprisoned, and those who could, went into exile. The towns where there were colles before the military uprising of July 1936 were Tarragona, Valls (two), and El Vendrell (two). To control them better, in towns where there was more than one, the dictatorship decreed their merger into a single one. And to make it clear who they were performing for, some enxanetes were forced to modify the characteristic gesture of the ‘aleta’ (raising the arm) they make when crowning the summit. They had to extend it a little more in imitation of the fascist salute.From the 1950s onwards, normality began to be restored, and the castell movement gained vitality. This was when a great rivalry between the colles of Valls and the rest emerged, triggering the well-known ‘war of the enxanetes.’ In a time when performances were paid for individually, there were castellers who occasionally changed shirts – literally – to collect an extra fee. Over time, it was decided to stop paying adult castellers, but not the younger ones. However, they too eventually stopped being paid. In exchange, they had other incentives, such as free school supplies or the possibility of going skiing or to summer camps. Today, colles are paid per performance, but not individually as was done in the past.In 1975, with Franco's death, human towers gained more prominence in the streets as a means of asserting Catalan culture. In 1992, they were very striking at the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games. In 1994, Canal 33 began to cover castell events, which caused a real castell boom. By the end of the 1990s, about sixty colles had been created, double the number there were ten years earlier. Today, there are about a hundred integrated within the Coordinator of Castell Colles of Catalonia.In 2010, UNESCO declared castells Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The city of Valls, in the Camp de Tarragona region, is its capital. Since 2023, it has hosted the Casteller Museum of Catalonia. Currently, the movement continues to gain followers abroad, often on the initiative of Catalan residents. Thus, there are colles in countries such as Chile, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and even in Australia and Japan. There are also some in Madrid and the Basque Country.
30 years of the Castellers de Mallorca
In 1996 the important coverage of Canal 33 of the casteller diades of Catalonia encouraged a group of friends from Manacor and Palma to create, in parallel, their own groups. Today they are part of the oldest of the hundred that exist in the entire Catalan sphere
PalmaThere are three weeks left until Manacor's Spring Fairs and Festivals and this year the nerves are very noticeable in the human tower group Al·lots de Llevant. This is confirmed by one of its members, Joan Llodrà Gayà, 52 years old: “We hope to be able to raise a good tower there to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary. We are among the first groups in the Balearic Islands. We were born in 1996, the same year as Castellers de Mallorca, from Palma. We have been rehearsing for months. Our highest construction has been a four of eight, that is, eight floors with four people on each floor. We have only been able to raise it three times in our history. We almost always do seven floors”.
In October, the next important event for Al·lots de Llevant will be in Dénia. The Valencian Country is precisely where, in the 17th century, the antecedent of the human towers was born in the famous muixerangues. These were religious dances that culminated in the creation of human towers. The most popular would be those from the city of Algemesí. The term, surely of Arab origin, could refer to an old Moorish dance. Those curious collective constructions would eventually make the leap to Catalonia. In the 18th century, they took root mainly in Camp de Tarragona, Penedès, and Garraf. Then, from being known as the ‘Ball de Valencians’, they would come to be called castells.
Casteller 'Boom'
In 1976, a year after Franco's death, Manacor was the first municipality in Mallorca to see people climbing into the sky. It was during the Spring Fairs and Festivals with the exhibition of the castellers Nens del Vendrell, which is one of the oldest, from 1926. In 1996, twenty years after that visit, the capital of Llevant was already taking over. "It was – says Llodrà – the year of the casteller boom at a time when there were only about forty groups in all the Catalan-speaking territories. This boom was greatly influenced by the broadcasts of the casteller events on Canal 33, which had been covering them for two years. For the Christmas holidays of 1995, while on an excursion with some friends, the idea of creating our own group in Manacor arose. We were 20-year-old youngsters."
. It wasn't enough, so one day I jumped to Barcelona to buy the book Enciclopèdia Catalana. It wasn't enough, so one day I took a trip to Barcelona to buy the book Castells i Castellers, which Xavier Brotons had just published. It was our Bible. Then we traveled to Vilanova i la Geltrú and managed to get the Xiquets de Reus to visit us to finish teaching us the technique."
In the summer, those neophytes already performed for various towns in Mallorca. “We had to convince some daring father to let his young son play the enxaneta, the figure, a minor, who crowns the top. When the towers are dismantled without any incident, the verb ‘descargar’ is used. Otherwise, it is said ‘cargar’. At this moment is when injuries can occur, but they are infinitely lower than those that occur in any other sport. Now there are more safety measures and the children wear helmets.” The public’s response to that novelty could not have been better. “There were very few voices that criticized us for doing an activity that was not part of the culture here. Judo is not either and nothing happens. We wanted to have a good time and we did it with a cultural event that is obviously linked to the feeling of Catalan identity.”
In 1998, two years later, Al·lots de Llevant already debuted in Catalonia. In Torredembarra (Tarragona) they dismantled the first seven-story castle – the maximum is ten. Initially, the performances were done to the rhythm of the xeremies or the flabiol and the tamborí. Progressively, the sound of the gralla, the characteristic wind instrument of the casteller universe, was introduced. Today, the music is already taken care of by the Grallers de Manacor, a group independent of the colla, but born in the interior.
‘Strength, balance, courage and common sense’
During these 30 years, nearly 800 people have passed through the Manacor human tower group. “Now we are about 120 and of all ages, half men and half women. Everyone is welcome to build a good foundation. Those who need to be in better physical shape are the people who climb, which represents 20% of the group. We practice every Saturday afternoon in the gym of IES Mossèn Alcover.” Llodrà recalls the motto of the human tower movement: ‘Strength, balance, courage, and common sense’. “Human towers are perseverance, conviction, boldness, and self-improvement. It is an activity that builds community and helps to socialize. There have been users of Projecte Home who, as therapy, have been with us by medical prescription.”
Since 2002, Al·lots de Llevant have rented their own premises at Carrer Nou in Manacor. Their integration into the town's festive life is total. “We feel very loved by the people. We predate the mulassa figure, which was created in 2012 when the Sant Jaume festivals were revived. For Sant Antoni, the demons come to dance in front of our premises and we build a pillar for them. In 2002, the Escola de Mallorquí awarded us the Recognition of Merit, which is a very important award. Furthermore, we have always had the support of the City Council, regardless of political affiliation.”
The casteller season begins in spring. “It is an activity – Llodrà emphasizes – associated with good weather, which calls for sun and flies, as is commonly said. We start in March and finish in November. We perform about twenty shows a year. We are hired most often in the towns of Llevant. We also go to Palma twice and at least make one trip outside.” The Manacor native assures that, in Catalonia, Al·lots de Llevant are no longer seen as a rarity: “We are an older group than most of the hundred or so existing ones. Furthermore, our level is not bad at all. Half of the groups did not qualify for the important day that takes place in Tarragona on the first Sunday of October in even-numbered years. We achieved this in 2016. On that occasion, we successfully completed a meritorious four of eight.”
Castellers de Mallorca
In many of their performances, the Al·lots de Llevant perform alongside the Castellers de Mallorca, from Palma, who wear dark red. Both groups were founded in the same year, but independently and with different motivations. One of their founders, Josep Mallol Vicens from Tarragona, 65, explains: “In 1996, I had been living in Palma for eight years. My wife was from here. At the Mata de Jonc school, which was a pioneer in Catalan language teaching, we met other mixed marriages. Our young children were thrilled with the castellers when we visited Catalonia. So we decided to bring them to the island. We had to learn the technique on our own. We started rehearsals with about twenty people at the Son Canals school and at the IES Joan Maria Thomàs.
Shortly after, the Castellers de Mallorca learned of the existence of the Manacor group. “In the beginning – assures the man from Tarragona – we also received criticism from a small group of intolerant people who said this wasn't from here.” Mallol envies the institutional support that the Al·lots de Llevant have. “We haven't managed to get our own premises. For a year now, on Saturdays and Thursdays, we've been meeting in a friend's carpentry workshop located in the Son Rossinyol industrial estate. We are about seventy. During the PP's time under Jaume Matas, there was more dialogue and we were hired for many celebrations. On the other hand, with the current Palma City Council, communication is nonexistent. All the performances we do in the city are thanks to the Residents' Federation.
In recent years, the casteller landscape in the Balearic Islands has been enriched with new additions. In 2004, the Gambirots de la UIB group was formed, which has just been refounded after a long period of inactivity. In 2009, Ses Talaies de Formentera was born with castellers from the principality who, in the summer, get together to perform with people from Formentera as part of the Santa Maria festivities. In 2022, in Puigpunyent, the Castellers de Tramuntana group was launched, and in 2023 it was the turn of the Boixos i Boixes d'Eivissa, promoted by young people from Ibiza who became fond of building human towers while studying in Catalonia. “Competition – concludes Mallol – is healthy and necessary for the survival of the casteller movement”.